Blurry
by Annette Aoi
Summary: Kanda didn't want a roommate. He'd really prefer to live on his own. But when money is tight, he's forced to compromise. Too bad his roommate just so happens to be the most annoying person he's ever layed eyes on. college fic; LaviYu
1. Walking Disaster

Heya! I'm baaack with my usually unedited and sloppy chapter. C: I deleted two of my stories because I stopped liking them, so _A Hundred for You and for Me_ and _Candy_ are gone. Sorry.

Anyways. I was goooing to make this take place in London, buuut one of the first rules of writing is to write what you know. I don't know shit about the cost of living in the UK or uni life. Sooo…this takes place in some obscure place in the US.

So, my prompt for this was something 'simple but sexy'. It's of course not sexy yet, but this is only the set up. Hopefully we'll have some fun things coming up soon. C:

Please review!

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Blurry

_Chapter 1: Walking Disaster_

He never really even wanted a roommate. He would have been perfectly content on his own. Unfortunately, he had been running out of time to find a cheap apartment to stay in. It was only three days until the term started, and he simply did not make enough for the apartments around.

When he was about ready to give up and cancel his courses, he found an ad in the classifieds for a roommate. It was a good deal: two bed, one bath, a kitchen, and living room for $190 a month. This included utilities, but there was no A/C, cable, or internet. He didn't have much of a problem with that, having never been awfully fond of TV and could easily walk down to a café to mooch off their internet connection for any assignments that required it.

There would only be one roommate, so it really didn't seem so bad. Of course they probably wouldn't become friends, but he could get along with someone if they didn't bother him too much. Because of that, it seemed like a really good idea at the time.

Now he was moving in with his total of three boxes and a suitcase. It would be pretty much the same as staying in the dorms, having a roommate he'd never met before. He decided he preferred this, though, because he'd actually have a room of his own, and it was larger than a dorm.

A few days ago the man renting out the building had showed him around. It was actually a side building to his bookstore that hadn't been used for anything, so he had decided to rent out the rooms. His roommate hadn't been home at the time. It seemed a little weird that they'd be meeting for the first time now, rather than earlier.

He made his way to the door, holding a box and his suitcase. The other two sat in his friend's brother's car. He juggled the box on his arm and held the suitcase in that hand before ringing the door bell. After a good five minutes, the door finally swung open, and there stood a rather disheveled redhead in the doorway. The corner of his lips spread out into a wide grin after getting a good look at Kanda.

"May I help you?" the boy asked in a sort of mock politeness.

"Move so I can get through the door?" he returned, sarcastically. He looked surprised for a moment, to which Kanda rolled his eyes. "I'm your roommate. I need to get my shit inside, so I can return the car."

The boy, still grinning, moved out of the doorway and allowed Kanda through. "My name's Lavi, by the way. Your's?"

"Kanda. And, do you not have a last name?" He winced a little, hoping his accent hadn't been too noticeable. He'd grown up speaking mostly Japanese, so every so often there was a hint of it in his voice. For some reason, he'd always been a bit self conscious about that.

"I could say the same about you. Nice accent, by the way." Kanda glared and made his way to his room. Lavi followed him, as was expected. He continued to hover over him, which was really getting on his nerves. He was like a little gnat.

"Kanda _is_ my last name," he finally said, though very reluctantly.

"So what's your first name, Kanda?"

"That's really none of your business." He put down his box and suitcase before heading back to the car for the other two. Lavi continued his impression of a gnat and hovered over him all the way out and all the way back in.

"You can stop fucking following me. I have to return the car."

The mischievous grin made a comeback.

"But, Kan~da~. I'm cuuurious."

It was around then that Kanda realized that his new roommate was the most annoying shit he'd ever come across. The apartment was still worth it, though. Under $200 in a fairly nice neighborhood was a dream. That kind of opportunity didn't come around often, and he was just lucky to have gotten the place before someone else did.

He pulled into the driveway of the Lee residence about ten minutes later. Lenalee ran up in her bouncy teenage girl way to meet him. She automatically started asking a million questions per minute about the apartment and his roommate the moment after he stepped out of the car.

"Hey, hey. Slow down. I'm tired, and I can't even understand Japanese that fast, let alone English."

She punched him in the arm, and, despite her being so little, it actually rather hurt. He wouldn't let her know that, of course, but it did nevertheless. He walked past her to hand the keys to Komui and thank him for allowing him to borrow his car. Walking a good thirty minutes with boxes wasn't very appealing.

"So who is your roommate, Kanda?" Komui asked, having as much interest as Lenalee. Kanda shrugged in return.

"I don't know him, so I couldn't tell you. I've only known him for fifteen minutes." He said this, but he already had a good idea of what the boy's personality was. He seemed like an irresponsible slob that would be a pain to deal with. Thankfully, he'd probably be able to leave in a year or two anyways.

"Oh, come on," pouted Lenalee. "You have to have some sort of impression on him!" He almost laughed.

"I'd better start walking back so I'll be awake enough to unpack." Lenalee put her hands on her hips and straightened herself in one dramatic gesture.

"Don't give me that, Kanda Yu! You just want to get out of talking with us!"

He really couldn't help but smile. She'd been like a little sister to him since he was ten, so as another brother, he felt protective of and loving toward her, despite the fact that he didn't show that sort of thing often. Sometimes he still thought of her as that little eight year old girl she was when they had first met. Even though the age difference wasn't that big, it really felt like it to him at times.

"Guilty as charged, but I really do have to get back there. As I said, I don't really know my roommate that well, and I don't want him going through my things."

Lenalee finally agreed after pouting and arguing for another minute or two. He thanked Komui for letting him use the car and said his goodbyes. Lenalee and Komui waved from in front of the garage while he walked down the driveway and across the street.

The walk was fairly long, but that didn't bother him at all. He was used to physical activity. Not that he was particularly obsessed with exercising or anything, he just had a habit of doing it often. Sitting at home became boring easily. Besides that, he had no interest in getting a car as long as he was able to walk. It simply did not make any sense to him. Legs were meant to be used.

For a moment, his mind wandered back to the previous conversation, which made him wonder if Lavi had actually gone through his things. The redhead seemed like the type to do that, which really worried him. He didn't like it when people went through his things. He didn't have a lot, but what he did have was precious. They were his and his alone.

After a good ten minutes of his walk was wasted on worrying about that, his mind stayed on the new place, particularly Lavi. When he had answered the door, his hair was incredibly messy. There were two possibilities. His hair was always like that, which would probably piss Kanda off to no end, or he had just woken up from a nap. That would explain why it took him so long to answer the door.

Still, he wondered how he could have possibly had all that energy upon waking up. He'd been quick to pick on Kanda and was even able to pick up on Kanda's slight accent, which was very uncommon. He hoped there wouldn't be more questioning about his first name also. He hated that name more than anything and with good reason, of course.

The next ten minutes of the walk were wasted on him worrying about being bothered about his first name again. Even he came to realize how ridiculous that was. Instead of dwelling for the rest of the way, he concentrated on the instant soba that awaited him in his suitcase.

As a result, he ended up walking a lot faster. It made him realize how hungry he was and how he hadn't bothered to eat breakfast or lunch. It was a bad habit of his, actually. Sometimes remembering to eat didn't come as naturally as it should have.

Instead of taking another fifteen minutes, he only took eight. That was actually unintentional because he had little interest in getting back so quickly aside from his hunger. That, apparently, was more powerful than his instant dislike of his roommate.

When he entered the house, Lavi was sitting on the couch reading some obscure book and tapping his feet, despite the fact that he wasn't listening to music. Kanda rolled his eyes at the boy for the second time that day and headed straight for his room.

To his pleasure, everything appeared to be left untouched. The boxes were closed and left in the exact spot they were left. His suitcase didn't seem to be touched either. He let out a sigh of relief, feeling a hell of a lot better that his privacy had not been invaded.

He pulled out his instant soba and walked back out to the kitchen. He opened the vegetable packet, accidently scratching himself at the same time. For the rest of the thirty seconds it took to pour the water and put it in the microwave, he ignored the little scratch. When he finally looked back down, he realized that it wasn't just a little scratch.

He had taken off a few layers of skin, and now it was bleeding profusely. Of course it wasn't bad enough to get stitches or anything like that, but it was _definitely_ going to add to his constantly growing collection of scars.

Instinctively, he popped the finger into his mouth.

"Hey, Lavi… Hey. HEY."

"Huh-wha?!"

"Have any bandages?"

"Yeah. Why?" Kanda gave him a flat expression.

"I'm fucking bleeding."

Lavi jumped up and retrieved a first aide kit from the bathroom. Being accident prone himself, he had learned to keep one handy at all times. He came back and pulled Kanda's hand out in front of him, earning a glare in return.

"I can do it myself, you know."

"It's harder to do when it's your hand that's hurt. Besides, I have a license in first aide, so it'll be better if I do it."

"It doesn't take a genius to put on a bandage," he scoffed.

The grin returned for a second time, and Lavi put everything on before Kanda could protest again. He found it funny how the other had reacted. He had little concern for the cut but was responsible enough to know to bandage it, proving himself to be prideful but not a complete idiot.

It was…interesting.

"There," Lavi said. Kanda instantly pulled his hand away, which made Lavi laugh slightly. "All better, Yu?"

His eyes opened wide in a typical 'deer in the headlights' look.

"Did you fucking go through my shit?!"

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Kanda has a pooottyy mouuuuth.


	2. Modest Noodles

I wrote this instead of working on homework, so all of you better like it. Haha I'm kidding, though I do hope you like it. I'm sorry for not updating for such a long time. I may not be able to update again for a while. I've been busy, busy, busy with homework. And I've been sick. Again.

So anyways! Here's the chapter! I hope it's enjoyable! Reviews are love!

Blurry

_Chapter 2: Modest Noodles_

Lavi's hands instantly shot straight up by his head, palms facing forward in a universal sign of surrender. He really hadn't expected Kanda to get so worked up or just be so paranoid about someone going through his things. The average sane person wasn't. Of course, the average sane person was usually fairly (if not extremely) gullible.

"H-hey," Lavi sputtered while trying to hide his inescapable amusement. "Don't shoot, Yu! I didn't touch yer things! I just took a peak at the lease, I swear!"

Kanda noticeably relaxed a bit after hearing that. The lease wasn't particularly private considering it was a shared apartment, so he felt a little less invaded. _A little._ His glare returned, though with slightly less the intensity it had before.

"Don't refer to me by that name. Ever. I _will_ make you regret it." He warned. The redhead's hands dropped, and the amusement he'd put so little effort in hiding was plastered on his face. His hands quickly found their way into his back pockets, as he leaned back slightly so that his arms held his torso upright. All in all, it was an incredibly lazy position, which combined with his messy mop of hair and wrinkled clothing gave a terrible, terrible impression.

"Oh, c'mon. Is that anyway to talk to someone that just bandaged yer finger injured, bleeding finger?" Of course he made it seem far worse than it actually was. He was quite fond of playing the guilt card…or just being annoying just to get reactions. He had no real idea of how Kanda would react outside of assumption, but he was in a win-win situation either way.

To his surprise, Kanda said nothing. He simply pulled his soba out of the microwave that had been beeping for the ten seconds. What happened next was also to his surprise. In one swift motion, Kanda turned the plastic container over on top of Lavi's head. Then, he walked off, throwing his hand to the side in a dismissive gesture and mumbling something about not being hungry anymore.

Lavi didn't entirely catch what he said, which was highly understandable considering the fact that he had very hot noodles and a little bit of boiling water poured onto his head. He'd yelped and quickly wiped it off as quickly as possible to escape the burning sensation on his scalp.

After managing to shake off the water before it really started to hurt, he picked up the container and started putting the noodles back in it. As sloppy as he seemed, messes regarding food and dishes drove him insane. It was the one thing that he was almost OCD about.

He had heard a door slam, which told him that Kanda had gone to his room. What a temper that one had! Out of all the people that had called about the apartment, he's grandfather chose _him_. Lavi wasn't really complaining. After all, he had better sense than to complain about someone with that nice of an ass, but he really would have preferred having someone that could have a chat without getting violent.

This was a learning experience, though! Oh, yes. He'd learned something very valuable. He'd learned to be more careful with his attempts to socialize with his antisocial roommate. Also, he learned that he much preferred "Yu" to "Kanda". Particularly after the look of pure shock he'd gotten after he said it the first time.

Kanda, on the other hand, was currently half sulking, half unpacking. Actually, by unpacking, it's meant that he was moving his neatly folded clothing from his suitcase to the dresser that sat on the opposite side of the room from closet, which more than likely wouldn't be getting much use; he preferred to fold his clothes.

The room itself wasn't particularly big, nor was it extremely small. One could walk from one end of the room to the other in a matter of four steps one way and three the other. The dresser was under a wide window that looked out onto the street. The closet had a bifold door with plantation shutters made of a light colored wood. White carpet rested beneath his feet, and the bed sat in the middle of the room, already dressed in white, cotton sheets.

The room was modest at best, but he decided he liked it. There was no need for anything extravagant, and he didn't particularly like anything that could be described as such. It had a homey but temporary atmosphere. That was something he could definitely appreciate.

It wasn't three seconds after he'd opened the first box and was pulling out a rather old and dull beige comforter when there was a knock at his door. He, of course, didn't answer, not wanting to deal with the current object of his scorn. A second knock followed within seconds, but Kanda just continued making his bed. This repeated for almost half a minute before the door was opened – not by his doing, but that of said object of scorn.

Kanda didn't acknowledge his presence and continued tucking the edges of his comforter under the mattress. Lavi cleared his throat to get his attention, but he still said nothing. If he was going to apologize for acting like an idiot and giving a terrible impression, then he should just do it already. Otherwise, he had no business in Kanda's room.

"I…uh," he began, sheepishly. "I brought you a peace offering. I know you said you weren't hungry anymore, but it really isn't good to skip meals, and you look hungry to me, so I thought…" Where was this nervousness coming from? It didn't exist a few minutes ago!

Kanda finally looked over at the babbling redhead to see what the hell he was talking about. Sure enough, there was a bowel of pasta in his hands. There was no sauce on it, though it seemed to be excessively buttered. He went back to his word before muttering a response.

"Just put it on the dresser."

Lavi did as he was told, wondering why exactly he felt so awkward. He hadn't felt this nervous since sometime in high school, though he really wouldn't be able to tell you the specific event only that it was around that time. The bowl was placed on the dresser as was directed, and Lavi stepped closer to Kanda.

After a moment or two, Kanda looked over at Lavi again. His eye still expressed the annoyance they'd been filled with since he first showed up at the place. He obviously wasn't the type to express any form of gratitude, let alone positive emotions, Lavi realized. That _so_ wasn't cute.

"Are you just going to stand there?" he asked, gruffly. It took a moment or two for Lavi to realize what he was talking about. At that point, he jumped and immediately started tucking the blanket under the mattress on the side of the bed that he was on while Kanda went back to the other. He was warned not to do it sloppily, which he took offense to. Just because he didn't put much value into his own appearance, didn't mean he couldn't make sure things were neat and organized.

After finishing, Kanda smoothed out the top and put two pillows at the head of the bed. He looked at it for a moment, trying to find any mistakes in his usual perfectionist manner. Lavi realized what he was doing and starting laughing, which earned him a glare.

"You don' like mistakes much, do ya?" It was an obvious question, but conversation was conversation.

"Who _does_?" Kanda retorted as if the observation had been something more along the lines of disliking getting teeth pulled. Lavi shrugged in response.

"Mistakes aren't always a bad thing, Yu. Good can come out of 'em, too."

"I told you not to call me that."

"Sorry. It's catchier than _Kanda_," he said in a teasing tone. He did his best to keep it toned down compared to his usual teasing, not wanting to end up with serious injuries. Not teasing was simply not an option, but everyone could be a good sport about it to an extent. That included pissy roommates, or at least, he hoped it did.

Kanda made his way to the other side of the bed and picked up the bowl of pasta. Thankfully, instead of pouring it over Lavi's head, he actually started eating it. He leaned back against the wall for support while eating. It wasn't the supper he'd been looking forward to, but it was better than nothing.

"You put too much fucking butter in it," he mumbled between bites.

It was around that time that Lavi realized he'd been forgiven.


	3. Ironic Coffee

Hey, guuyyyyssss. :B Sorry I only seem to write short chapters. Baw. Anyways. Hope you enjoy!

Blurry

_Chapter 3: Ironic Coffee_

"You have got to be fucking kidding me!"

Heeere we go again. It'd only been about a week, and Kanda had already found quite a bit to complain about. Well, there was a lot to complain about, but that was beside the point. The point was that he shouldn't have already been complaining about all of it…or something.

"I feel like it's the fucking Sixth Sense every time I walk into the fucking kitchen! Would it kill you not to leave every single fucking drawer and cabinet open?"

Lavi opened his mouth to object that he'd only left a few open, but it just so happened that this time he had, in fact, left every single one open. Well, shit. There went his defense, flying out the window.

He actually did feel a teensy bit guilty. Since he'd been taking more classes at once than should be legal, the little free time he had was spent asleep with a public television program droning in the background. Kanda had managed to magically make the place clean in a week, and well, Lavi wasn't exactly helping the man's mission to keep it that way.

Kanda said nothing and didn't wait for some bullshit response. Rather, he started slamming all of the drawers and cabinets closed with all the force he possibly could. Lavi winced each time there was a loud _smack_ of wood against wood. It was almost migraine inducing, yet slightly informative; that was the first time he realized that there were ten cabinets and six drawers. It wasn't important information but was still nice to know on occasion.

Alright, he didn't really care, but it was good to look on the bright side now and then, right? He told his inner voice not to answer that. Not aloud, of course. He didn't need his roommate that already thought of him as only a slob to also think of him as clinically insane.

"Jeeezzze, Yu," he slurred sleepily. "Ya need to get laid or somethin'."

Kanda actually didn't yell at him for that comment. He just rolled his eyes before settling with giving Lavi a flat stare. Because having sex would totally change his personality. _Right_.

"My sex life is neither your business nor relevant. Fuck off, you lecherous idiot." The way he said it was as if he were reading it off a paper; there was absolutely no emotion in his voice. This was mostly because he didn't really care. Daisya had been pleasant enough to say something similar on multiple occasions. He was used to that sort of teasing.

"Ouuuch. That's quite an accusation there, Yu. I'm not lecherous, thank you. You just have a stick up yer ass. 'Less you're asexual. Then I give my apologies."

"What part of 'my sex life is none of your business', do you not understand?"

"All of it," Lavi said with a grin.

Kanda was to the point that he realized that said grin was Lavi's 'I'm just trying to annoy you now' expression. That was also around the time that he just stopped listening. He knew that it wasn't worth continuing a conversation. It was like an argument he couldn't win because he couldn't get control of his temper long enough to do so. Lavi wasn't done talking, though.

"Well, I'm assumin' you aren't asexual by that comment, though ya coulda fooled me. Ya need ta go out 'n flirt with some girls, man! Yer still young; don' waste it!"

"First of all, I could barely understand what you were saying. Second of all, I have no desire to flirt with anyone. It's none of your damn business." Shit. Shit, shit, shit. Replying opened the door to conversation. This definitely was _not_ going to end well.

"Ya don' even know how ta flirt, do ya, Yu?" God damn that fucking grin to hell. All of that was necessary; otherwise it wouldn't be strong enough to convey exactly how much Kanda _hated_ that grin, and he really, really, _really_ hated it. He hated it more than the redhead himself, in fact.

"I grew up in a foster home. If there's only two things you pick up on , it's how to shoplift correctly and flirting." He watched Lavi's expression suddenly change to one of shock and slight amusement. It was mostly shock, though.

"…That's _terrible_."

"It's also a lie." He rolled his eyes for the second time during the conversation and walked right past Lavi, whom was just standing there in shock. It was the first time he realized that Kanda actually had a _sense of humor_. It was a very sardonic one, but it was still a sense of humor.

Lavi was so shocked by this that it took him a few seconds to realize that Kanda was back in his room, and he'd completely lost the…encounter? When did this become a competition? He usually teased people, but it was hardly more than a little banter. Now he was actually feeling competitive.

He chuckled to himself, not for the first time, and grabbed his coat. He needed coffee something fierce. Yes, he did actually use that term both when thinking and in normal conversation. He found it amusing and slightly charming. He also would have been the first to admit that he had a skewed idea of what was and wasn't charming.

Now, generally Lavi didn't give a shit where his coffee came from as long as it was coffee. Real coffee, that is. He didn't like it being watered down or unnoticeable under far too much chocolate syrup. It wasn't that he didn't like chocolate syrup. In fact, he rather enjoyed it. Everything has a time and a place, and in his humble opinion, coffee was not the place for sweets.

Lately however, he'd been enjoying a particular diner that was only a few blocks from the apartment. He didn't like it because the coffee was particularly good. It was pretty bland at best, actually. His love was for the atmosphere and the people working there. He never missed a chance to flirt with his favorite waitress.

She was a bit too young for him to date, not that he really particularly wanted to date her. She wasn't really his type. It'd be like dating a sister, and he wasn't particularly into incest, thank youuu. That didn't change the fact that she was cute and fun to pester. She didn't really seem to mind it, either.

His trips to the place were limited to Wednesdays in the afternoon. He, like every other person with a budget, couldn't only spend so much during the week. He wasn't willing to give up the atmosphere of a diner or café, though. It seemed like a good compromise to only go once a week.

As he walked in and the bell attached to the door rang obnoxiously, his favorite waitress in the world, Ms. Lenalee Lee, looked up to see who was walking in. She smiled at him. The place was pretty much empty until about five, so she was always bored out of her skull before then. Lavi at least worked to make her wait interesting.

"Coffee as usual?" she asked, bouncing as she walked up to the booth that Lavi always, always sat in with a coffee pot in hand. She'd already prepared a new pot not long ago, knowing he'd be coming in soon. It was like clockwork with him.

He confirmed her assumption, knowing that it didn't really need confirming. He actually never and still didn't realize that he generally came in at the exact same time give or take a few minutes. Actually, for the longest time his parents thought he was slightly autistic because of his natural tendency to work in schedules and patterns, but he never really caught it himself.

"So," Lenalee began, pouring the steaming liquid into his mug. "Did you finally find someone to rent the room?"

"Yeah," he said, that impish grin returning to his face. "He's a real strange one, though. I can tell ya that much."


	4. A Serious Case of Déjà vu

Hey guys! This is the beta-ed version, beta-ed by the lovely seiyuurabu, who graciously offered to correct my laziness. So…enjoy the lack of mistakes. 8D

Blurry

_Chapter 4: A Serious Case of Déjà-vu_

"Oh?" Lenalee shifted her weight onto one foot. She gave off a sort of motherly aura that made her seem a bit older than she was. At times it was hard to remember she was sixteen, not thirty, especially with the maturity she showed.

"Yeah… He's gotta stick up his ass or somethin', but he's doesn' seem all tha' bad once ya spend a few minutes with 'im. I think he just don' like ta talk much. He's a bit of a clean freak, though. Ge's angry 'cause 'm not so good at keepin' things clean, ya know?" he explained in a gossipy, teenager sort of way.

This was another example of how he generally acted far more immature than he actually was. Why? For the same reason he did most anything. It was entertaining. The worst part of it was that somewhere deep inside him, the literature freak was cringing in disgust every single time he opened his mouth. He'd learned to block that out unless he was reading or writing though. Sacrifices must be made for the sake of entertainment.

"So… Let me get this straight. You actually enjoy the fact that he's uptight?" she asked slowly as if he wouldn't be able to understand it at a faster tone.

"C'mon, Lena. Tha's _totally_ not what I jus' said. What 'm sayin' is tha' I think he needs ta loosen up a bit."

She rolled her eyes. Oh, she knew enough of Lavi's plans to make people loosen up already. It seemed to be his way of saying he was going to try to hook up with someone. Hook up in Lavi terms was an awkward one night stand that usually ended in Lavi getting physically harmed in some way. Of course, this had only happened a few times since Lenalee had known him (which was a good two years, actually), but he always seemed to phrase it the same way.

"Leeenaaaaa. Wha's tha' look fer, huh? I dun plan to seduce my roommate, thank youuu. I do have some morals." It was true, actually. Kanda seemed like the type to succumb to such urges only under the assistance of a lot of alcohol and some strong drugs. Both, of course, weren't something that he would take willingly, and Lavi would feel like a rapist if he did anything to him under that sort of circumstance anyways.

This time 'loosen up' was a completely innocent term. The look on Lenalee's face showed that she did not believe him in the least. He gave her his best kicked puppy look before being hit over the head and getting his coffee mug refilled by her.

They conversed for another hour or so. Mostly they talked about superficial things. They told each other about school. Lavi told Lenalee horror stories about college that she only half believed, and Lenalee told Lavi about the horrors of womanhood, which he always overreacted to.

Lavi finally left at six. At that point, his bill for the coffee had already climbed up to about twenty dollars. He complained about how Lenalee kept refilling his mug without asking, and she told him he should object if he didn't want anymore. As usual, he left her a good tip before walking out.

Overall, he sensed it would be a good day. Hopefully Kanda would be in a good mood when he got back. Then he had a chance of coercing him on getting out of the house. Being holed up in his room all the time had to get boring at some point. It was the least he could do for him getting the house cleaned, anyways.

He stopped walking for a moment, shaking his head and grinning. What? Now he was planning on taking Kanda out? He normally didn't bother taking people out unless he was on a date, which only happened once in a good five months. Now he was suddenly showing appreciation to his new roommate through spending his own money on him?

It was around this time that Lavi realized he had it bad for Kanda.

Kanda at that moment wasn't really feeling similar sentiments. Actually, Lavi was the last thing on his mind. What he was currently doing was thinking over ways to completely mutilate his textbook. He had the strong, strong urge to rip the things into pieces, douse it in lighter fluid, and watch the mother fucker burn.

Wasn't that from a song…? Whatever. It didn't matter. The book needed to _burn_. It needed to burn and suffer. He really wished books could feel pain because he would inflict a lot of it on the poor, helpless, papery bitch.

Needless to say, math had never been Kanda's strong point. On the contrary, it was his _worst_ subject. No matter how it was explained, it still seemed like meaningless lines on a paper to him. Unfortunately, this wasn't a good enough excuse for not getting his homework done, and a zero was hardly appealing.

However, in the end, he lost control due to his violent nature and the book went flying into the adjacent wall. The poor book fell in an open position against the linoleum in a way that definitely was not good for either the pages or the spine.

"Ya know, Yuu. Tha's not nice to do that to the poor book. It didn' do anythin' ta you."

"When the fuck did you get in here?"

Either Kanda was so wrapped up in his rage toward that book and didn't hear him come in, or he hadn't made a noise doing so. The latter was more likely because Kanda was generally aware of what was going on around him even when he was raging at textbooks. Lavi really was a sneaky little bastard.

"Nooot important." He walked over and pulled Kanda out of the chair by his arm. He started walking to the door immediately so as to avoid any instant injury. Kanda was rather surprised about being dragged along and managed to sputter, "The fuck are you doing?"

"We're goin' out! It's a nice night, and ya spend too much time inside!" He stopped at the door and let go of Kanda's arm, motioning for him to get his shoes on. Kanda just glared at him with about as much intensity as the textbook at earned only moments ago. Well, it was nice to know he wasn't any more annoying than a textbook… he guessed?

"Why the hell would I want to go out with you? Besides, I have class tomarrow." Actually, he'd finished the homework for the class tomarrow, and the homework he'd been working on was for Friday, but Lavi didn't need to know that. He had a habit of finishing his work a day early. This wasn't because he was particularly smart. Oh, no. It was because he was an overachiever with a syllabus.

"Dun care. Ya have no say. We're goin' ta grab some real food. Ya need it, anyways. I can see yer bones, 'n frankly, Yuu, it's not all tha' pretty on ya. C'mon. I'm payin'."

"Stop over exaggerating, idiot. I'm not that skinny."

"Nuh-uh. Any moron with eyes can see yer malnourished. 'Sides. I'm offierin' ya a _free meal_, Yuu."

Kanda opened his mouth to protest, but just as he did, his stomach made a loud, unpleasant growling noise. Lavi raised an eyebrow at him and got an eye roll in return. However, Kanda didn't put up further protest. He slipped his shoes on before pointing his finger dangerously at Lavi.

"Talk my ear off, and I will break your jaw."

"Alrigh', alrigh', Yuu. I'll try ta be quiet."

He grinned at Kanda and motioned for him to go out first. He knew he would eventually win anyways for two reasons. One, he was damn persistent. Two, any college student that turned down a free meal needed to be sent to a mental institute right away. Turning a meal down would be pure blasphemy.

Kanda let out a small displeased noise – a sort of 'tch'ing sound – that reminded him a little of an annoyed cat. He tilted his head and tried to see if he could find anymore traits similar to a cat. He found about three before Kanda noticed he was staring at him, which earned him another glare.

He just grinned and took lead. He technically had a car that he could use, but that was more for out of town use. Gas prices were a bitch lately, so he preferred to keep it on a need-to-use basis. Consequently, Kanda seemed a little more pleased that they were walking. Lavi had pegged him as the type that preferred physical activity, and per usual, he was correct.

They kept walking till they found themselves in a downtown area filled with old buildings occupied by restaurants, pubs, and various craft stores. With the look on Lavi's face, it was obvious that he preferred areas of towns and cities that had history to it. Kanda was slightly surprised, actually. People like Lavi generally scoffed on anything that wasn't made in the last twenty years. It was actually the first redeemable quality he'd seen in the redhead.

"It's no' too much further," he informed as he weaved between people. Kanda was having a hard time keeping up. He was slow by no means but working his way through a crowd wasn't one of his biggest talents. He probably would have been better at navigating through them had he not always avoided them like the plague.

Thankfully, he'd managed to get through it without losing Lavi. Under normal circumstances, he would have taken it as an excuse to leave, but he kind of didn't know where the hell he was at the moment. He honestly couldn't recall ever having been here before, which was weird since he spent most of his time downtown when out of the house.

Lavi lead him to a particularly small restaurant that was sandwiched between an Irish pub and a larger Italian restaurant. Kanda followed him fairly reluctantly. He wasn't particularly fond of going to new places. He wasn't too incredibly picky about food, but there was no telling what kind of place he was being dragged into.

Inside was decorated in an Oriental theme. The various patterns and styled paintings on the walls identified it as Chinese. It was a rather elegant place despite being so small, but that probably had more to do with the lack of a buffet and a smoking section. A woman in a red cheongsam showed them to a table and gave them menus.

"It's got the real stuff. Not many places these days have quality Chinese food, ya know? Anyways, I come here whenever I have extra money. Hope ya like this sort of stuff."

"What happened to not talking my ear off?" He did like Chinese food, actually. Lenalee, being the cooking enthusiast she was, had made him quite a few traditional plates and had Kanda and her brother taste test them. Most of it was actually very good seeing as though she was particularly good at cooking.

Lavi grinned sheepishly and turned his attention to the menu. Kanda did the same, minus the grin. Kanda didn't grin nor did he have the desire to. However, the atmosphere was almost calm enough for a very small desire to smile. Almost.

It was around that time that Kanda realized that Lavi had a very manipulative personality. Some would just call it people skills, but it was just two different ways of saying the same thing.

Later that night, Kanda was back in his room working on the hated math. The pages of the book had managed not to be too bent at least. This could be taken as a miracle or a sign of the devil. He was betting on the latter and used it as proof that math was indeed work of evil on Earth.

He nearly jumped when the cell phone he forgot he put in his back pocket went off. He took it out and answered it right away. The only one that really ever called him was either his boss or Lenalee. This time it was Lenalee.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Kanda! You have yet to tell me about your new roommate, you know! What's he like?"

"Well," he started, tossing his pencil to the side and closing the book of evil, "he's weird. Really, really weird."


	5. A Lovely Evening In

Okay. A few things. Yes, Kanda is unreasonably violent. I have my reasons. And, yes, I didn't make Lavi an orphan. He does have parents. He just happens to live with his grandfather for reasons that will be explained later. Basically, I'm leaking back story in. Enjoy the leakage.

Other than that, I can't think of much to say... I'm purposely phrasing things in awkward ways on occasion, so I hope you don't mind. XD

Special thanks to seiyuurabu for being such a lovely and betaing this.

Blurry

_Chapter 5: A Lovely Evening In_

"What the hell are you watching?" Kanda asked – well, more so commented – as he continued working on drying his hair. He refused to use a blow dryer ever. Why? Because the last time he did, he got a break in his hair higher up than he really wanted to cut it. While it was his fault for not using products specific to hair, he preferred to blame it on the blow dryer.

"Hell if I know. All I know righ' now is tha' the blonde girl is livin' up to her predecessors in the horror genre." Just as he said that, the woman on the television let out an earsplitting scream after she opened the door that had been hiding the body of her missing boyfriend. "Watch. She's totally goin' ta take a shower 'n it'll be a repeat of _Psycho_."

Kanda stood, still trying to rub his hair dry with the towel and staring at the television just to see if Lavi would be right. It would be funny if he was wrong, but he had a tendency to _always_ be right about these things, which actually got pretty annoying at times. Especially when he spoiled something that Kanda was pseudo-watching.

Just as Lavi predicted, the woman went into the shower. Kanda held back a comment on how it's completely illogical to go into the fucking shower instead of, oh, calling the police about the fact that your boyfriend's body was stuffed in the closet. That was blonde main character logic for you, though.

Well, Lavi had been right about that one thing. She did take a shower. However, there was no _Psycho_ killing scene in it. She just came out and _then_ called the police about the corpse. Well, the order was off, but at least she actually did it. Keeping her dead boyfriend in the house was more than a little weird.

"She's going to be the killer."

Lavi looked over at Kanda, a bit surprised that he was making a prediction. Generally, he just barely paid attention to what was on and kicked Lavi when he spoiled it for him with predictions. However, he was now seated on the couch with his eyes glued to the screen.

The image was actually kind of funny since he'd never really expected to see it.

"Why do ya say tha', Yuu?" he inquired. Personally he didn't think it would happen. That ending was so over used that even a cheesy flick like this wouldn't possibly steal it.

"She took a fucking shower before calling the police. She's trying to get rid of evidence, obviously," he explained before quickly adding, "And don't call me that."

"Then why'd she scream when she opened the closet?"

"To alert the neighbors and throw suspicion off of herself." He gave Lavi a look as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Lavi, on the other hand, was looking back at him with a horror-struck expression.

"Yuu…" he started, his voice shaking a little. "Why do ya have this so thought out?"

He kept his expression the same and said very flatly, "I'm planning on murdering you. Isn't it obvious?" Of course he wasn't. He was arguably violent, but most of his threats were, well, just threats. Murder wasn't actually on his list of things to do. Actually, if he was going to kill someone, it'd be someone more deserving of it. Lavi was reasonably tolerable, most of the time.

"Hey… If yer right about the endin,' does tha make me yer boyfriend?"

Alright, scratch that. Lavi was insufferable and definitely would wind up being on the wrong end of a knife someday.

"You're an idiot, and I should smack you." This time it was more than a threat. If anymore stupidity came out of that idiot's mouth…

"I'm jus' sayin', Yuu. If we're talkin' in movie terms here…"

Kanda actually reached over and smacked him. Normally he would have backhanded someone if they were getting this annoying, but he settled for just smacking Lavi in the back of the head because he was convinced someone had dropped him on his head when he was a baby. It would explain his extreme need for speech therapy. Half the time he had no idea what the hell he was going on about.

"Owwwwwww!" Lavi whined and rubbed the back of his head as if it genuinely hurt. It didn't. And, in Kanda's book, if it did hurt, the person was a wuss who deserved to get smacked again, only harder.

"Shut up. I'm watching this."

"Yuu is meeeaaaan."

"I said shut up." This time he forgot to add the "don't call me that". He didn't notice the shark grin Lavi was giving him since his eyes were glued to the screen again. Sadly, because of this, he also didn't notice his mistake of forgetting. He was _officially_ going to be referred to as Yuu no matter what he said. Well … he didn't have much of a chance against it before, but now he didn't have any at all.

Lavi became fairly silent for a while as there wasn't much going on in the film. The woman spoke to the police, and they filled out a report. It was the usual questions. When did you find the body? How did you find it? Have you seen anything unusual lately? Was there any evidence of a break in? BLAH, BLAH, FUCKING, BLAH.

Oh, the plot thickened: the cop asking the questions offered to stay to make sure everything was safe. Mind you, it was so apparent it was going to happen since they were making googly eyes at each other throughout the entire questioning, and Lavi was entirely convinced they had been playing footsie under the table. The plot was a little less runny at least.

Kanda made a snide remark about obligatory romances in movies to which Lavi snorted his amusement. It would have been a laugh, but there was soda in his mouth that he'd forgotten about up until that point – hey, his long term memory was damn near perfect, so there was only so much you could expect from his short term memory. Maybe the only reason why it was funny was because he was thinking the same thing, which was likely a first for them, having matching thoughts. It was nice.

He had the stupid urge to reach out and touch Kanda. Unquestionably it was a bad idea, but the urge was still there despite how much he wished it wasn't. Maybe he wouldn't notice if it was just a light brush against him. He could blame it on an accident. The couch wasn't that big, so they were close enough…

"SHIT." Kanda stood up quickly having spotted the time on a conveniently placed clock next to the TV. It was there because Lavi ended up falling asleep on the couch before he could drag himself off to bed far too often, but that was another story. "Is that right?"

No. Lavi set it five hours late just because he could. Silly Yuu, asking silly questions like that.

"Yeah, why?" Lavi took a big gulp of his soda. He was surprised that it was almost all gone as he didn't remember having drunk that much of it.

Kanda rushed off to his room before answering the question. Not that Lavi found Kanda's lack of response unusual. He seemed to have that reaction whenever he deemed a question not worth his time. This would have bothered Lavi more if he wasn't so good at just accepting annoying little quirks as part of someone's personality. By annoying, he meant the little 'stick-up-the-arse' vibes that Kanda gave off with just about everything he did.

"YUUUUUUUUuuuuuUUUUUUuuuu-uh." Needless to say, Lavi had just used the most obnoxious voice that could possibly come from his throat. So much so that he was truly considering punching himself in the face.

"GET CHECKED FOR AUTISM."

"I RESENT THAT. MOST PEOPLE WITH AUTISM LIVE VERY FUNCTIONAL AND FULFILLING LIVES."

"WELL YOU AREN'T MOST, THEN."

Okay, so maybe that one pissed him off more than a little bit. Although Lavi generally acted like a goof all the time, he did have times when he was serious, or got angry at things. Unfortunately he wasn't very good at showing the switch between goofing around and serious, which made his actions seem fairly bipolar, but that was beside the point. The point was that he wasn't happy now, and Kanda's door opened outward, rather than in like most doors.

This would have absolutely no importance _if_ Lavi decided against tilting a chair underneath the doorknob. However, he'd been pretty nice about Kanda's attitude since the boy got here, and now he decided to lay some ground rules. Autism was an off limits subject for various reasons that he would not specify.

He stood silently, waiting for Kanda to realize that his door was currently barred. It actually took a while because he was apparently busy doing something. Eventually though, there came a banging from the other side of the door.

"LAVI, WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO?"

He almost snickered at this. Even though this wasn't one of his usual pranks, it still kind of felt like one. He was less angry and more giddy now that Kanda was as thoroughly pissed as he'd just been. Did this really make any sense? No, but he went with it anyway. Perhaps some of his anger had been because Kanda had ruined the one moment that could make Lavi's crush on him seem the least bit logical. Oh, well.

"LAVI, WHAT DID YOU PUT IN FRONT OF THE GODDAMN DOOR?"

"I didn't do anything!" he protested in the most innocent tone he could muster, even going as far to put a bit of an offended sound to it. "I think you're just paranoid, Yuu! Maybe you should get checked for schizophrenia!"

Suddenly everything went silent. Lavi was slightly worried about this. All right, he was more than a bit worried. Either Kanda was going to come smashing through that door psychotic killer style at any second, or he'd actually said something to hurt the boy. The part that worried him most was that he was hoping for the former. He probably did need his head checked out.

After about thirty seconds of absolutely nothing, he knocked on the door. The lack of a reply bothered him. Had he crossed the line? Kanda already had, but it was hard to tell if that had been intentional, or if he had some sort of social defect, not that he had any right to talk.

So, after not getting a response following a second knock on the door, he removed the chair from under the doorknob. He then swung open the door only to reveal … an empty room. Kanda was nowhere in sight, which was a little weird because you can't exactly hide in that small of a room. That meant the only possibility was that he'd climbed through the window, which meant Lavi could be stuck explaining to his grandfather why he was suddenly without a roommate again.

He turned around because right now there was nothing to do but go back to the movie and come up with an excuse. Unfortunately, when he reached a position 180 degrees from his previous one, a fist collided with the bridge of his nose. He doubled over and held his nose with both hands. It was bleeding all over the place, but he could tell that it wasn't broken. It was swelling a little, but it definitely wasn't broken. He used his sleeve to keep the blood from actually getting all over. That would just be a pain to clean up later.

"WHAT THE FUCK, YUU?" His yelling was more out of shock than anger. The last thing he'd expected was a punch in the face. The fact that Kanda had managed to go out the window, walk around the building, and walk back in without making a sound was borderline amazing.

"Don't 'what the fuck' me! You locked me in my room, asshole!" Kanda kicked Lavi in the stomach for extra measure. Actually, that was to vent some more frustration. The "extra measure" was picking up Lavi's car keys that were sitting on top of the makeshift coffee table made out of a painted bucket and scrap wood. Why on Earth Lavi had never bothered to replace it with a cheap actual coffee table, he couldn't say.

Now, typically Lavi wouldn't be too concerned. Hey, his nose wasn't broken, and a car was just a car, right? Well, when it just so happened that the car wasn't _really_ yours and the owner valued it more than your life, then you have a problem. This was exactly where Lavi was. If Kanda decided to take his revenge by crashing the car, then there would be no hope for the poor boy's survival.

"Wait! WAIT! YUU!" he protested as Kanda walked out the door, not paying any attention to the pleas behind him.

That was just fan-fucking-tastic. He rarely even took the car out himself in fear that he might get the slightest scratch on it. The thing belonged to his absentee father. Normally, he'd be the sort to total the car just to get back at him for being an all around ass wipe. However, despite their mutual hatred for each other, it was that man's money that was getting him through college, and he didn't want to jeopardize it.

He stood up and hobbled over to the couch. Using his sleeve to hold back the blood flow from his nose wasn't the best choice, but he was too lazy and distressed to get a towel at the moment. Over and over he told himself aloud to relax. Yuu wasn't going to total the car. He wasn't. He wasn't that awful ... was he?

Yeah, he was fucked.

He looked at the TV screen, hoping that the cheesiness of the movie could somehow cheer him up. It was better than sitting there in a panic after all. Plus, if Kanda was wrong about the ending, that would make him feel somewhat better.

Only, when he looked at the screen, the woman in the movie was being arrested.

Well, shit.


	6. A Scene of Smoke

Heyyy, guys. Sorry for the lateness. Um. A lot of crazy shit happened to me since the upload of last chater. Better late than never?

So, yeah. This one is actually unedited because I decided to just upload it. That, and I'm not sure if seiyuurabu even remembers this since I took so long. :'D Uh, yeah, so enjoy this way too short chapter. Sorry guiz. D8

Blurry

_Chapter 6: A Scene of Smoke_

It was sometime around midnight. How odd, Kanda thought to himself. It'd been years since he stayed out that late since his current job was well staffed at night, and he wasn't needed then. Why would he go out otherwise? Insomnia wasn't a good enough excuse. That was the time best used for homework or figuring out expenses. There was also the little fact that he didn't like concerning himself with things like socializing or being in the company of other people.

He reeked of nicotine and incense. The combination of smells gave him a bit of a headache, but he loved it at the same time. How that worked was entirely beyond him, but it did, so he didn't question it.

The lights were off when he entered the house, but he could tell the TV was still on from the dim light dancing across the wall. He let his eyes adjust rather than turn on a light. It would be too harsh when his head was already beginning to pound. Plus, he didn't want to wake his roommate. After punching him in the face, he figured it was best to let him rest. It wasn't that he thought his reaction was overdone. Oh no. He'd never admit such a thing, even to himself. It was just that in his experience people weren't very happy after getting their asses handed to them.

With the softest 'clink' he could manage, he set Lavi's car keys on the counter. The car was most definitely in one piece, as Kanda believed strongly in the respect of other people's property. He just needed to get somewhere fast. In the back of his mind, he knew he should have told Lavi that, but he had been feeling far too spiteful for that kind of courtesy.

He began digging through the refrigerator. Every ounce of anger and spite had already fled his body. Now all he could think about was whether or not he wanted milk or water. In the end, he chose water because drinking milk after smoking was disgusting and made him cough up phlegm. That really did not sound like something he wanted to experience at the moment.

Briefly he wondered if it'd be okay to light up quickly. He didn't smoke often, but when he did it became hard to limit it to just one or two. Smoking was just one of those little habits that he picked up down the line and never bothered to get rid of. Plus he liked the feeling of a cigarette pressed between his lips and the sting smoke filling his lungs. It brought calm and helped him reach a point in which he could be so lost in thought that there wasn't a single thing actually on his mind. Simplicity in the chaos; it kept him feeling human.

It probably wasn't his best idea, but it was late. He was allowed to not think clearly. Within a few seconds a cigarette hung from his mouth, and he began trying to get his lighter to spark. It was almost out of fluid, so he had to shake it a few times before the little flame finally started.

He inhaled deeply and watched the thin line of smoke rise up, toward the ceiling. Smoke was one of his favorite things to watch; he preferred it to fire any day. It was the remains of whatever was burning flowing upward before disappearing completely. The smell stayed with you, but the substance was gone. Yes, he enjoyed smoke greatly.

In fact, he was so distracted by watching it, that he didn't notice Lavi, who had been sleeping on the couch, sitting up. The redhead's nose was in the air like a dog's, as he investigated where the smell that awoke him was coming from. When he realized what it was, he was genuinely surprised; Kanda never seemed like the smoker type to him.

He slowly stood up and walked into the kitchen. By then, Kanda had been snapped out of whatever trance he had been in and simply watched Lavi walk toward him from behind his cigarette. Lavi yawned loudly and scratched his very disheveled mop of hair before saying anything.

"Shouldn't smoke, ya know," he mumbled calmly.

Kanda simply tapped the cigarette over the sink, successfully dislodging any ashes. "So I've been told." He was surprised, actually. Usually Lavi had quite the flair for the dramatics. This calm on a subject that, when they had a negative opinion on it, sent people into an almost frenzy was probably the last reaction he had expected.

There was a lazy grin in response. "Yeah. I heard that it can cause cancer and shit. Wouldn't want that nasty stuff, now would ya?"

"Frankly, I couldn't care less." He really couldn't. He never understood the obsession with self preservation that every other human seemed to have. Everyone died anyways. What was the point of prolonging it when that time was usually spent in a nursing home rather than actually living? In truth, that seemed so far from where he was now that it didn't even matter. "How's your nose, by the way?"

Lavi seemed to perk up at the question. His grin was a little less sloppy and more sincere. From the little bit of Kanda speak that he picked up from their time together, that was an apology, or the closest thing he would get to one. That was awfully exciting. "It's fine. Face wounds always bleed way more than they should."

Kanda nodded in agreement and turned back to his smoke. Mmm. Tar-filled lungs. Nothing seemed more appealing at the moment. He let out the smoke in a mix between an exhale and a sigh. How it managed to relax him so much, he'd never know.

"Where'd ya go?"

There Lavi went, prying again. It didn't really bother him quite as much as it usually did, but it did bring back the edge that he was trying to let fly up with the smoke. How disappointing. "Somewhere," he answered vaguely, hoping that Lavi would just drop it.

"Yeah? It's pretty late, though. Aren't ya tired?"

He tapped the cigarette over the sink again before bringing it back to his lips. Talking seemed like so much work, and he didn't really feel like answering anyways. It was a meaningless question only meant to keep conversation going. Lavi liked conversation. Kanda didn't. Not really, anyways.

Surprisingly enough, Lavi just stood there. He didn't try to strike up conversation again or go off to do something else. He didn't even seem to feel awkward by the lack of sound. In fact, he seemed to be enjoying it as much as Kanda was. How strange…

Lavi in his only half-awake state had suddenly felt a bit of courage. Maybe he had a good dream or something; he didn't know. The point was that he was feeling that bit of courage at the moment, which led him to do one of the stupidest things he had ever done, particularly since this was the same person that punched him in the face earlier that evening.

Slowly, he reached over and pulled Kanda's hand over to the sink. He forced his fingers between his roommate's, causing him to drop the cigarette. Despite his calmed mood, Kanda wasn't very happy about this in the least.

"Why the fuck would you—"

And this is where Lavi's sudden burst of bravery truly came into play.

Kanda was interrupted by Lavi's lips pressing softly against his own.


End file.
